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The house was as silent and still as a grave. Dipper and Mabel both snored softly, their chests rising and falling under their bedsheets. Outside, the rain fell heavily, creating a grey veil that covered the Mystery Shack and its surrounding woods.

Mabel woke from her sleep when a bold of lightning crackled through the evergreens. She blinked twice while examining the room around her. When she became aware of the storm outside, she fluffed her pillow and attempted to return to her dream. But instead she was woken again by a clatter coming from downstairs.

"Mabel!" Dipper whispered from across the room. "Mabeeel!"

Mabel turned her head and looked up at him. "What?" she whispered.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yeah."

"Could you go check it out?" he asked.

"Dipper," Mabel groaned.

Dipper pouted and gestured to his cast and the crutches that stood by the coat hanger.

Mabel sighed. "Fine. But only because you're crippled."

She pulled herself out of bed, walked out the door, and quietly walked down the staircase. She heard a noise coming from the gift shop. She saw the silhouette of a figure move, then pause. Mabel squinted in confusion as she flicked on the lights.

"Stan? What're you doing down here?"

Stan was frozen in place like a deer in the headlights. He swallowed before replying. "Nothing." He turned, kicked the vending machine and swore under his breath. "I thought I heard something down here so I decided to investigate."

"Dipper wanted me to check it out," Mabel replied. "You don't think it's a break-in, do you?" she whispered.

"Nah," Stan mumbled. "Your brother and I are both probably just being paranoid." He wearily glanced at the vending machine again before locking eyes with Mabel.

"Now go back to bed, kiddo."

"But shouldn't we look around and maker sure-"

"-I said get back to bed," he repeated.

Before Mabel could think of an excuse, there was another sound. Something had broken. Something that sounded an awful lot like glass. The noise was coming from Stan's office.

Stan realized this and suddenly looked surprised. From the look on his face, Mabel could tell that Stan had been lying at first. But that was something they would have to worry about later. Right now they had a serious problem on their hands.

Stan grabbed a broom and Mabel armed herself with an umbrella. The two walked slowly across the shack, towards the office. Once they arrived to the door, Stan pressed his ear against it, then motioned for Mabel to open the door on the count of three.

"One. . ." he whispered. "Two. . ."

He paused for another second before mouthing, ". . . three."

Mabel kicked open the door and Stan immediately jumped inside the office, screaming a war cry. Mabel did the same. But after their eyes adjusted to the dark, they saw that nothing was there. There was no broken glass. Every window was intact. The safe that sat beside a filing cabinet was still covered in dust. Nothing looked like it had been tampered with.

"What the heck- how? There had to be someone in here." Mabel lowered the umbrella and took a careful step forward, as if testing the floor for a trap.

Stan sighed deeply and shook his head.

"Like I said. It's just paranoia."

"But-"

"-no buts except yours upstairs," Stan said sternly. His command didn't match his face. He appeared to be more tired than usual. His wrinkles seemed to have multiplied and Mabel noticed the pronounced bags under his eyes. Stan didn't seem angry or frustrated but just. . . tired.

Mabel did as she was told. She left the room without saying another word. She placed the umbrella back by the coat hanger and watched Stan walk to his room.

Once he was gone, Mabel retrieved the umbrella, slipped on an old pair of boots that were two sizes too big, and opened the back door. She ran outside, opened the umbrella and stared into the darkness.

At that moment, Mabel could've sworn that he recognized a familiar shape of a figure. But after one heartbeat, it was gone. Mabel frowned, turned back, and walked back into the house while dragging the umbrella on the floor in defeat.

Maybe Stan was right. Maybe they were letting their nerves getting the best of them. But then again, whenever her brother showed concern about something like this, he was on to something. And within the five summers they had spent in Gravity Falls, Dipper's hunches had never been wrong.

. . .

Gideon stared intently at his reflection in the mirror. He swiped a comb through his hair, then glanced at the clock on the wall. He growled under his breath and rapped his fingers against the wood of the vanity.

Suddenly, he felt a draft in the room followed by a breeze that grazed the back of his neck. He shivered and whipped around to see Pacifica.

"You're late," he snapped irritably.

"Sorry, Gideon."

"Excuse me?"

Pacifica cleared her throat. "I mean Mister Gleeful," she corrected while rolling her eyes.

"Much better," Gideon hissed through a wide smile. He stepped towards her and greedily clasped his hands together. He was at least an entire foot taller than her, tall enough to block out the light and cast her in his shadow.

"So? Did you get it?"

"No," she said simply.

Gideon's face turned scarlet. "Do you think teleportation spells grow on trees? It was so easy! How hard is it to grab a piece of paper?"

Pacifica held up her palm, signaling him to stop. "Let me finish," she said calmly. She showed him a faded Polaroid. "I didn't have enough time to get the deed or a picture of Stanford, but I did manage to get this."

Gideon focused his attention on the photo. He snatched it from her hand and squinted at it.

"Dipper Pines? How could his mind help us?"

"I know him better than anyone," she replied. "And I know that he's explored that house inch by inch since he was twelve. If we can't get into Stanford's mind, this is our best shot."

Gideon glared at her. "Then it'll have to do. We can't waste anymore time."

"Of course," Pacifica said. "What's next?"

Gideon grinned. "My favorite part." He returned to the vanity, reached in a drawer and pulled out an old book. He held it in the air so that the golden hand on the cover shone brightly in the candlelight.

"It's time to summon Bill Cipher."

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A/N WOW I'M SO PRODUCTIVE but seriously three chapters in one weekend is a big deal for me.

I wrote this chapter before Band Bonkers cause I was really excited to introduce Pacifica as Gideon's ally but before I posted it I remembered that Dipper has a broken leg and I originally wrote this chapter with him going downstairs to investigate instead of Mabel.

And I can't wait to start writing for Bill!! He's not my favorite character ever and I actually hate the insane amount of attention he gets from the fan base, but I gotta admit the fact that he's my favorite cartoon villains of all time.

Thanks for tuning in for this ramble!
-Cath